At 730 tomorrow eve, trot on down to the bookstore in Multnomah Village, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, and catch Michael Largo, author of
God's Lunatics.
This book is much needed. It's an alphabetical collection of what the book cover calls "lost souls, false prophets, martyred saints, murderous cults, demonic nuns, and other victims of man's eternal search for the divine." This description is unfortunate. It all but guarantees that this enlightening, fascinating and important book will only be read by the choir. In this era of conservative Christianism, the very folks who should take a look into this book will be driven away by the politics of the package. Better if this book had been presented in a more neutral package. It's a collection to deal with but I doubt if any conservative Christians will pick it up and therefore won't be challenged by its contents.
I don't know if it was the author's or publisher's idea to present the material this way. I strongly believe they blew it by doing so. Sure, this book will get readers and good reviews but it's not going to be as challenging as when it could sneak up on its readership. This is advertising with a sledge hammer. This is preaching to the choir. This is, in the end, an unfortunate waste of fine research. Maybe a second edition will see the light and present itself in a more neutral way so that those who need to see this material might have an opportunity to stumble into it.
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